Working Title 10.02.09: Working Hypothesis - What if the Dreamcast Didn't Fail?

Posted by Jordan Williams on 10.02.2009

We've all asked it. What would have changed if the Dreamcast had succeeded? Would it have gone on to keep Sega in good graces and Sonic not a mockery? I think it would've done something else...

Welcome back to the #1 Column to want some hard facts about games like Halo 3: ODST, and Super Street Fighter IV. I am a huge defender of L4D2 because what I saw from it were major changes to the core and what not, but what good is those whole "patch the game on consoles" system going to be if everyone keeps going above and beyond the patch and making separate CD expansions? I don't care much for ODST, but I actually like SFIV and to hear that even in the age of patching and DLC we will still be stuck in the Super Duper Hyper Ultra cycle (despite them saying it won't be a full priced game) is still just a bit disconcerting. So WHY can't this just be DLC again, Capcom?

But that sounds like it will be a column for another day, today I am hitting what very well could be the last part of the Working Hypothesis series. I couldn't do the column this week because my day job (Entertainer at Busch Gardens Tampa) was kicking off it's Howl-O-Scream event and I had to attend it all week, but to make up for it I am going to give you the one Working Hypothesis everyone has been bugging asking me for...

Yes. That one.

Yes. I know 9.9.09 was a while ago.

...

Yes, I am also aware that it is useless trying to build up suspense seeing as the title of the column is at the top of this page, so you already know what I am going to say. So how about I just move right into it.


Working Hypothesis: What if the Dreamcast was successful?

Oh yeah, it's THIS article. We've heard every single piece of praise, hate, and other things about the Dreamcast and it's generally said that they Dreamcast just seemed to be a bit before it's time. It was apparently THE shit when it came to gaming at the time and we are all just horrible people for not embracing it like we did and Sony is evil incarnate for destroying all that is good and holy in the world of gaming.

Right.

What I am trying to say that most of the Dreamcast retrospectives are written from the point of view that the Dreamcast was THE shit and it sort of slants it in a bit. So I decided to do this one because I never owned a Dreamcast. I never owned a DC when it was new, I never had Bleem! I never had an old one now that they are cheap. Since I never owned a Dreamcast I don't have all of these fond nostalgia filled memories of it so I can sort of look at it from the outsiders point of view. I'm not saying that anyone who owned a Dreamcast would be all "IT WOULD BE THE BEST GAMING SYSTEM EVEERRRRR" it's just that they might be ever so inclined to oversell the Dreamcast as something more than what it really was. So let's just say for shits and giggles that the Dreamcast survived and ended up being successful, what would have happened to it and gaming as we know it? Well first things first...


There would be no Xbox as it is known now.

Yes, you heard me right. There would be NO XBOX as it is known now. Why? Because if we are assuming that the Dreamcast was successful and not in its decline as it was in 2000 and 2001, then the announcement of the Xbox would not have gained such steam. People tend to forget that Microsoft had its hand in gaming before the Xbox and it was with the Dreamcast. Seeing as the Dreamcast ran on Windows CE (the thing that eventually prompted them to make the Xbox in first place) one could assume that if the Dreamcast was throwing it's weight around and flat out destroying everyone around then Microsoft would've simply tried to work WITH Sega to see how they could take Windows CE and the Dreamcast into further heights.

Yes, Microsoft would've tried to work WITH someone. But you know when it comes to Microsoft and how they work with other companies, you know what would happen. Microsoft would either try to buy Sega or enter an exclusive partnership with them.

What does that mean exactly? It means that the Xbox wouldn't happen as it is known now, it would mean that the Dreamcast would become the Xbox and the Xbox 360. It might've been under a different name and what not, but if Sega was as successful as they could've been with the Dreamcast, Microsoft would not need to throw its own box out there. They would simply turn the Dreamcast into what the Xbox would be today. Microsoft knows how to run technology and how to sell stuff to a crowd; Sega obviously has the experience when it comes to games. So having them combine forces (even if for something as small as a game console) would be pretty damned nifty.

Now this doesn't mean that Microsoft wouldn't try to shoulder Sega around, I think we would still see some of the same things that are happening with the Xbox 360 with the SegaSoft console, but I think the main difference here would simply be the fact that the Xbox 360 wouldn't be a Microsoft first party console, it would be a Sega console with Microsoft's money and guts behind it.

Microsoft makes the hardware; Sega makes the software and slaps its name on the console. Gamers get the spoils. This would spell trouble for Nintendo and Sony (more on that later) but it would also change the course of history for a certain franchise down on it's luck...

Sonic the Hedgehog would not have had such a harsh decline

It can be argued that Sonic Adventure 2, which came out on Dreamcast, was the death kneel for Sonic. But I think the real thing that did Sonic in was no home console for him. Sonic was Sega's mascot, he was pretty much what defined the Killer App for Sega. I think Sonic's games in the past were good because he was directly competing with Mario and whatever other mascot first party game someone would throw out there. So whenever Nintendo would fire a shot over the bow with its latest Mario game Sega would return fire with its latest Sonic game and the two would always butt heads.

But when Sega moved to third party you suddenly removed the need for Sega to use Sonic competitively. Now Sonic was just regulated to being a third party game that appeared on all consoles, he wasn't directly competing with anyone because there was no one for him to compete WITH. No matter which console had the better Sonic game he still won out in the end because he was getting money from all three consoles.

In short, Sega and Sonic Team just got lazy. There was no one pushing them to make a better product to compete with everyone else so they just figure they can start churning out anything with Sonic's name on it and it would strike gold. One hour of shit games like Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and the Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog will tell you that is NOT the point.

So assuming the Dreamcast was successful, Sonic would still be the face of the console and the company. Therefore when Nintendo released Mario Sunshine, Mario Galaxy, and all of the other big Mario games. Sega would have to fire back with taking Sonic in new directions using the power of their own console to fuel it. It's not fair to think that a simple thing like the Dreamcast being successful would've been enough to keep Sonic out of the shitter, but it does make some sense seeing as arguably the last good true Sonic game was Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast, which was made to fire back at Super Mario 64. Little games of tit for tat in the video game industry foster some of the best games ever. That's one of the sad casualties we see with exclusives becoming rarer and rarer is that they are no longer needed to be used as bargaining chips and ammo for direct competition. There's no need to be the best out there when in the end you are getting double the money for the same amount of work, is there?


Sega would have been the ones to pioneer console online play

Well, technically Sega was almost there. They were the ones who brought mainstream internet home to the console and there was the crack that was PSO. What I meant by pioneering actually goes back to the first point. Since arguably Microsoft were the ones to really kick console online play in the ass, if Microsoft had thrown it's power being whatever Sega was doing, then it only makes sense that Sega would've been the main ones introducing online play to the world via it's consoles.

It's not like this is really surprising since Sega was always one to take giant ass risks with its consoles. Sega CD, Sega Saturn, the Sega Channel. Even with handhelds like the (best damn handheld EVER) Nomad. Sega was used to going balls to the wall to make their console stand out from the mix way before Nintendo was pushing this whole innovative kick they are going into now.

So assuming that the SegaSoft console would be the next step after the Dreamcast, all of the love the Xbox Live (or maybe...THE NEW SEGA CHANNEL!) had would now shift over to Sega. I'm not saying there would be some new revolution or there Sega would magically do things any differently. The point I am trying to hammer home is that almost everything Microsoft has now would simply be packaged under Sega's name with Microsoft sitting back and pulling the strings. As weird as that sounds I think that scenario makes the most sense.

Of course, giving Sega's track record for failure, they could easily muck this up like they had done every other innovation they had tried before. I mean if you look at the grand scope of things, getting online to work on the Dreamcast was just one success in a long line of failures and half baked ideas before it. It could really have gone either way...but since we are looking at this with a positive outlook how about we just say that this one would've ended for the better.

The roles would change - Nintendo and Sega would be the direct competitors while Sony would try to be 'different''''.

THE console war back in the day was simply Nintendo vs. Sega. There was no Sony, there was no Microsoft. It was Mario vs. Sonic. That was the end all be all to console wars. Then Sony threw it's had into the ring followed by Microsoft and our little war turned into a giant battle that has had many causalities and new successes. But I think if the Dreamcast would've succeeded the current console war as we know it would've changed a bit. Right now it's no question that the console war is being fought between Sony and Microsoft. They both offer the same experience with just differing degrees and they constantly fight over exclusives. Off to the side of it is Nintendo. While this is not a knock at Nintendo, they have gone on record to say that they don't see themselves directly competing with Sony and Microsoft anymore because they are going for different markets.

And do you see what happened there? Microsoft and Sony are now going to pick up new weapons and are going to try to take the numbers Nintendo has away from it. It's a new evolution to the console war that I think would be almost exactly the same if the Dreamcast succeeded...it would just bit a bit different.

Meaning that Nintendo and Sega would keep on with their legendary war as always. Once the Playstation 2 was through into the mix we would see the three-way battle for dominance we see now, but I think if you think a little ways down the road. With the SegaSoft console and Nintendo's console still going head to head. Sony would have to do something to distance itself from the pack. I think Sony would be the first ones to jump on the new bandwagon of changing gaming forever. They have the tech, they have the money, and most of all they have the MONEY. The next leap in gaming right now seems to be the embracing of motion controls, if that were the case in this sort of alternate universe, I still see Sony moving forward with it before Nintendo did. I still think the only reason Nintendo went for this new innovation jump was because they didn't have the resources and backing that Microsoft and Sony did. Not saying that doing this would suddenly give them the money they so desperately needed. But if they still had an enemy in Sega to compete with I think they would have done a lot of things differently with the GameCube and the Wii (or whatever the console may have been).

This would've left the playing field wide open for Sony to throw a curveball in the game and do something to make everyone take notice of them rather than be the one guy who seems to be late to the party. Now if Sony could succeed in doing this and what they might actually do? That seems a bit too open ended and up in the air for me to predict.

After all, I'm just a guy who is writing a column about what would happen if the Dreamcast somehow managed not to get the shit kicked out of it by everyone else...without actually ever owning a Dreamcast. What the fuck do I know?

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Working Question

As with Working Hypothesis as a whole I am open to all suggestions to what would change or how it would differ, but I do want to follow up the point I made at the beginning with a Working Question.

What do you make of this new initiative that seems to be releasing expansions of separate discs? Halo 3: ODST, Super Street Fighter IV, and to some Left 4 Dead 2. I figured with the age of patching upon us we would be getting away from this sort of thing (and certainly away from full priced ones like Halo 3: ODST), but what is your take on it?

Also can anyone out there tell me if Heroes is worth it? The last season really left me bitter towards the whole goddamn show, so I need to know if it is worth my time coming back or should I just still with my new awesomeness (The IT Crowd...if you don't know it, WATCH IT RIGHT NOW)

Until next time, I'm Jordan Williams...and seriously, Darkest of Days is probably my worst game played of 2009.